The
time is growing short.
It
is the
end of
an age and mankind is racing irreversibly into a time of ever-greater
chaos and
confusion. A time of great commotion and disturbance. A time of
pandemonium. A
time of stark contrasts. It will be as Ecclesiastes 3:8 reveals,
“a time to love and a time to hate, a time
for war and a time for peace.” A time
that has been prophesied by men of God and written in the book of God.
As Christians, this should not take us
by surprise.
In a few short days or years, the Lord will return for His church.
Then, the
judgments of God will fall with relentless inevitability upon the
unbelieving
inhabitants of the Earth. And man will, as predicted in scripture,
clench his
fist and curse the God of Heaven and Earth.
We
are living today, at the conclusion of an era. An era, that is being
driven and defined by the commotion and perplexity of unfamiliar
“tomorrows.”
An era of such convulsive complexities, that they seem to transcend the
limited
capacities of human comprehension. We are living in a time, where the
destinies
of our world, our nation, and our individual lives seem to balance on
the
uncertain possibilities of what tomorrow, may bring.
Peace
of mind is a foreign concept
amidst the daily
tumult of the world we are living in, today. The riot and clamor of
each new
day, compels our souls to try to distinguish, between that which is
reality,
and that, which is deception. Trapped within the confines of their own
limited
perceptions; humanity strives each day, to bring some semblance of
order or
sensibility to a decaying world.
The times of
vast delusion are rapidly approaching.
(2 Th 2:9) “The
coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with the work of
Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
2 Th 2:10 and
in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They
perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
2 Th 2:11 For
this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will
believe the
lie
2 Th 2:12 and
so that all will be condemned who
have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. ”
There
will be times of exceptional
spiritual opportunity, as the Spirit of God is poured out like a mighty
flood
in various parts of the world. But there will also be intense spiritual
antagonism, animosity from the spiritual realms unlike anything the
world has
ever experienced before. The time is indeed short and the enemy of our
souls
has an eye on the timetable. Revelation 12:12 declares,
“Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you
who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil
has gone
down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is
short.”
The
time is short and we are living in
increasingly accelerated times. Times of fast food, fast knowledge, and
fast
money to satisfy our fast paced lives.
But
there is a great emptiness at the
center of the whirlwind of our hurried existence. An emptiness shaped
by the
disappointment and disillusionment that is the inevitable result of our
fast-paced fleshly strivings for temporary inner fulfillment. The great
void we
are experiencing inwardly is the absence of lasting inner peace
and true
spiritual joy.
This
deficit can never be remedied by the manufacture of man. It is not
a device, that it might be fixed by human ingenuity. Nor is it an
ailment that
it might be healed by temporary circumstances of happiness. Rather, it
is a
state of being, which exists as a product of sin.
Lasting peace and true spiritual joy
cannot be found
in life’s fast lane. Lasting peace and joy can only be experienced as
we allow
the great emptiness within to be regenerated and rehabilitated by the
power and
the presence of the living God.
In
his book, Peace with God, Billy Graham’s evangelical message
describes the quest in each of our lives to try to discover the
solution to the
emptiness within.
I
Quote: “You started on the great quest the moment you were born. It
was many years perhaps before you realized it - before it became
apparent that
you were constantly searching, searching for something you never had,
searching
for something that was more important than anything in life. Sometimes
you have
tried to forget about it. Sometimes you have attempted to lose yourself
in
other things, so there could be time and thought for nothing but the
business
at hand. Sometimes you may even have felt that you were freed from the
need to
go on seeking this nameless thing. At moments you have almost been able
to
dismiss the quest completely. But always you have been caught up in it
again -
always you have had to come back to your search.
At the lonliest moments of your life you have looked at other
men and women and wondered if they too were seeking - seeking something
they couldn't describe but knew they wanted and needed. Some of them
seemed so much happier and less burdened than you. Some of them seemed
to find fulfillment in marriage and family living. Others went off to
acheive fame and wealth in other parts of the world. Still others
stayed at home and prospered and looking at them you may have thought:
"These people are not on the great quest. These people have found their
way. They knew what they wanted and have been able to grasp it. (End of
Quote).
This is the great deception; that these "people of the world have
discovered wholeness, contentment and fullness of life. In the coming
times of ever greater chaos and disorder, men will embrace this
deception like never before in the history of the world.
The words of
James reach out over the centuries to bring us a stern
admonition. A warning about the decadence and
deception of seeking temporary fulfillment through self-centered
determinations:
James 5:1 Now listen, you rich people,
weep and wail
because of the misery that is coming upon you.
James
5:2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have
eaten
your clothes.
James
5:3 Your gold and silver are corroded.
Their
corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You
have
hoarded wealth in the last days.
James
5:4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the
workmen
who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the
harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.
James
5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and
self-indulgence.
If as Christians,
we believe the deception,
that abundance of life can be found within the framework of this world,
we will undoutedly strive to imitate the people of this world. We will
forfeit spiritual freedom and inner contentment for the occasion of
temporary happiness.
Abundance
of life can only be experienced as we allow the great
emptiness within to be regenerated and rehabilitated by our surrender
to the
life-changing power of the living God. Abundance of life will never be
found in
the accumulation of things. It can only be discovered through our
submission to
the transforming power of God’s redeeming grace. Our submission, our
unconditional surrender, to the saving and transforming power of God’s
grace is
the only authentic avenue to lasting inner peace and joy.
When
we speak of surrendering our lives to the power of God’s grace, we
are not simply speaking of what we must do for God. The unconditional
surrendering of our lives to the power of God’s grace
requires something of significantly greater substance than self-effort.
God has
very little substance to work with, when we believe that surrender is
mostly
about what we must do for God. Surrender is, in fact, mostly
about what God must do for us.
What God must
do, for us, and especially, in us.
The unconditional surrender of our
life to God must
first be prefaced by an attitude of brokenness within the heart -
because
surrender has legitimate substance only as it emerges from the ashes of
true
brokenness.
Biblical brokenness is the consistent
attitude of
the heart - that we need God’s help, while surrender is the active
acknowledgment that God must do for us, what we can not do, for
ourselves.
Biblical brokenness is the consistent
attitude and active acknowledgment that only God can save and sanctify
us. That
only God can transform our inner being. That only God can make us holy
through
our faith in the spilt blood of Jesus. Biblical brokenness and
surrender is the
consistent attitude and active acknowledgment that only God has the
power to
make us righteous and make it possible for us to act out this
righteousness, in
our daily lives.
The kingdom
of God
is a kingdom of
everlasting peace and joy. As Christians, through our faith in Christ,
we have
been granted permanent residency within this kingdom. But there is more
to the
Kingdom than living within the Kingdom.
By the grace of God, we now live in
that kingdom -
but - are we allowing the kingdom to live in us? Are we, each day,
inwardly
experiencing the peace and joy of the eternal kingdom, or are we being
driven
along by the distress and worries of the world? Are we resting inwardly
in
abundance of life through Christ or are we habitually striving to
manipulate
the people and circumstances of our lives hoping to experience a
temporary
contentment within?
In whose dominion do we actually live
each day? The
dominion of the kingdom of the world or the dominion of the Kingdom of God?
Have we become subjects of the Kingdom of God
by the blood of
Christ only to be ruled inwardly by the chaos and confusion of the
kingdom of
the world? The kingdom that rules us
inwardly is the kingdom that has dominion in our lives.
In the increasingly fierce and violent
times ahead,
we must surrender to the expansion of the Kingdom
of God within us if we are truly to
experience, daily, the
kingdom benefits of
God’s supernatural peace and joy.
And there is only one way to
surrender to
the expansion of the kingdom
of God within us.
The
expansion of the Kingdom
of God within us,
is
accomplished only by the character of Christ being perfected within us.
It is Christ
being perfected in us that separates us from the ongoing stresses and
anxieties
that arise from the conflict and chaos of this world. It is Christ
being
perfected in us that provides us with the daily protection of His
everlasting
peace and joy. It is the character of Christ being perfected within us
that
empowers us to experience the benefits of scriptures like Phil 4:6…
Phil
4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but
in
everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to
God.
Phil
4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends
all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It is the character of Christ being
perfected
within us, by our faith in the power of God, that increases the
territory of
the Kingdom
of God within us,
and brings to us the
kingdom benefits of God’s supernatural peace and joy. Simply
put - God’s supernatural peace
and joy are
the product of the character of Christ being perfected within us.
The time is growing short.
James
4:13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or
tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on
business
and make money."
James
4:14 Why, you do not even know what will
happen
tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little
while and
then vanishes.
We
do not even know what tomorrow will
bring.
True,
lasting, inner peace and joy can be experienced if we
are willing to
surrender our frantic preoccupation with the temporary gratifications
of this
world and turn and allow our souls to be rehabilitated by the power and
the
presence of the living God.
We
can choose to access the sanctifying
power of the cross of Christ, that our very lives may become a sign, a
symbol
and a declaration of the goodness of God and His love for mankind.
The
character of Christ developed within
the soul of Christian men and women can be a victorious flagship upon
an
end-times ocean of growing despair and desperation. The soul that has
discovered spiritual rest through faith in the finished work of Christ
will be
a brilliant light in the midst of the ever-increasing darkness of
iniquity and
depravity. The saint that dwells restfully in true inner peace and
spiritual
joy will be a beacon to the anxious and striving multitudes of humanity
fruitlessly seeking fulfillment of self through worldly design.
These
are the privileges of opportunity and
possibility that God has blessed us with in these last days. We are
truly
blessed in these troubled times with the advantage of freedom from
excessive
anxiety and undue worry. We are blessed with the opportunity of
immunity from
the ravages of fear and distress. We are blessed with exemption from
the misery
and grief that will afflict a self-centered humanity with
ever-increasing
intensity as mankind refuses the everlasting peace and joy that are
found only
in the grace of God.
It is the end
of an age and mankind is
racing irreversibly into a time of ever-greater chaos and confusion.
The time,
is growing short… and we should not be found muddling about in
profitless
bewilderment, as are so many Christians in this day.
Ours is the opportunity of the
blessing of the
supernatural peace of God. A peace which transcends all understanding -
guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. A peace that transcends
the fluctuating
situations and circumstances that make up our daily lives. A peace that
brings
us blessed assurance in a world full of uncertainty – confidence in the
midst
of a world overflowing with insecurity.
The time is growing short. But
the peace and joy of Christ being formed
within us, is a timeless kingdom, everlasting...
